Some thoughts on jury selecton

One of the websites I faithfully read is The Jury Expert http://www.astcweb.org/public/publication/. The articles are accurate and generally are consistent with my ideas regarding communication and trial. One of the more recent articles was by Charlotte A. Morris entitled "It’s Deja Vu All Over Again: More Thoughts aon Doing Effective Voir Dire."

Her suggestedquestions on tort reform included some of the following:

Q. When does it make sense to Sue? When does it not? What makes you feel that way?Q. How do you know when it is a legitimate lawsuit?Q. Which lawsuits are frivolous? Why?Q. What’s your reaction to what you have heard thus far?

Regarding employment facts, she suggested some of these questions:

Q. What do you like most about your work? Why? What do you like least? Why?Q. When you were a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?Q. What led you to this work?

As to off work activities she suggested some of these:

Q. What do you do in your spare time?Q. When it comes to family matters, what are the things that concern you the most?

Regarding quality of life, she suggests some of these questions:

Q.Have you heard the phrase "quality of life"?Q. What does it mean to you?Q. What top things contribute to your qualifity of life?Q. Have you had an experience when you were unable to do the things that give you quality of life and you came to realize how important they were to you? Tell us about that.

Regarding surgery she recommended some of these ideas:

Q.Have you had experience with surgery?Q. How did it turn out?Q Were you satisfied with the outcome?Q. Have you or someone close to you refused to have surgery a doctor has recommended? Tell us about it.

I particularly liked her ideas for open ended and follow up questions like these:

Raise your hand if you or someone close to you has….

On a scale of 1 – 10 tell me….

Tell me about your experience with….

What have you read or heard about…

How did things turn out?

Were you satisfied with the outcome?

If you had it to do over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?

What did that experience teach you?

I think there are some very helpful ideas and suggestions in the article and it is well worth reading in my judgmenjt.